Friday, October 17, 2014

Nina Pham, the first nurse who contracted Ebola from Thomas Eric Duncan at a Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital said a tearful goodbye to her doctors from her hospital bed, before she was flown from the Texas Hospital to an NIH hospital in Maryland for further treatment, NBC reports

In a video recorded by the hospital, Pham’s doctor, Dr. Gary Weinstein, thanked Pham for caring for Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian who was treated at Texas Health Presbyterian and died Oct. 8.

“It means a lot. This has been a huge effort by all of you guys. We’re really proud of you,” Weinstein tells Pham in the video, released by Texas Health Resources. Pham laughs and tells the doctors wearing protective suits, “Come to Maryland. Everybody,” and later adds, “I love you guys.”

Also, according to NBC News, US President Barack Obama has said through a senior administration official that he will appoint former VP chief of staff, Ron Klain to coordinate efforts to fight Ebola.

Obama signaled his openness to appointing an Ebola "czar" Thursday night, telling reporters that it "may be appropriate" to elevate an additional person to coordinate the U.S. response.

The White House had previously resisted the idea of a czar, saying that the administration had already established clear lines of responsibility for handling the threat.

But Obama faced pressure from critics who argue that the nation's hospitals are not prepared for an outbreak of the virus.